Disclaimer: See Daphne's Story
Daphne's Epilogue
Several weeks after we were married, we discovered that something else happened that night. It was very unexpected because we had hoped it would just be the two of us for a while. It had taken so long for us to get here that we wanted to spend as much time together as possible. We were working so hard on building the new house and we were so anxious to move in. This was a two-person job, but it turned out that three people were doing it.
Having said all that, I was very nervous to tell Niles of my suspicions. When I told him I thought I might be pregnant, all of my fears disappeared as he started to cry. "Really?" he asked sinking to his knees and putting his hands on my stomach. I merely nodded and that's when he looked into my eyes. "Honey, it's okay. I know we said that we were going to hold off on having children for a little while but this is fantastic. I mean we're actually going to get to see what we created that night. It doesn't have words but now it has a form. A baby is a symbol of our union."
He was so wonderful. He's the one who took me to the drugstore to get a home pregnancy test, he's the one who made the phone call to the doctors to make an appointment for an official test, he's the one who calmed me down when I had a crying fit. He did everything but take the test. I made him look at the test when the alarm sounded. I was so nervous because I wanted to have his baby so much. And to see his eyes light up when he picked up the test was the most incredible thing. I don't think I could have looked at it, seeing his elation was all I needed. And needless to say, the house preparations went into full swing the very next day. The doctor later told us just how far along I was. Niles and I did, indeed, create our little one that night.
Niles was so supportive throughout our pregnancy. Yes, our pregnancy. I was so worried that it would be a difficult one but it wasn't. It was so beautiful. I loved every minute of carrying our baby and the sooner the time came to have it, the more I couldn't wait to have another.
Niles never missed one of my doctor's appointments, he called me every hour on the hour from his office just to tell me he loved me and to add another name to the "what to name the baby" list. I thought for sure that at some point he'd pass out during the pregnancy, especially when we had to watch that film in Lamaze class. I really underestimated my husband though, he was the only man in the room that didn't have to get up and leave. He even chuckled when a colleague of his left the room.
My husband hired miracle contractors to design and build the house. They were doing a wonderful job, under budget and ahead of schedule. Niles demanded to over see everything, especially our bedroom and the nursery. He insisted on designing them himself. He placed our bedroom in the center of the second floor, with these beautiful bay windows overlooking the ocean and the spot where we were married. And seeing as we were going to wait to find out the sex of the baby, he did this whole unisex baby animal theme. I had to stop him from buying two cribs though.
He insisted that the baby should sleep in our room for at least the first couple of months. I had absolutely no objections to that but questioned the need for two cribs. It turns out he was thinking ahead of another baby as well and wanted to be prepared in case we had two children in need of cribs. "You never know." He said. In the terms of our relationship, you never know was the perfect thing to say. The house was finished just as I entered the final month of our pregnancy and thankfully we were able to settle in before our little one was born.
Nothing even came close to the look on his face when the doctor said, "it's a girl." It was Niles' turn to break down in tears. He later teased that it out of relief for the hand that I nearly broke, we both knew better. When the baby was placed on my stomach just seconds after her entrance into our world, god it was a dream come true. She's the baby I have always wanted and her father is the man I used to spend so many nights dreaming of. Everyone else in the room disappeared as the three of us cried together. He was right, our daughter was the love that we created that night. Holding her in our arms is the most incredible feeling.
Once everyone had cleared out of the room, we took to the task of naming our little one. She calmed down almost immediately when we were left alone. Already like her daddy, the hustle and bustle is not at all to her liking. And she has the same piercing blue eyes as he does with my dark hair. But those eyes. Those eyes are going to get us in so much trouble. They're beautiful just like her daddy's. They're the color of the sea and no man is going to be able to resist them. I told Niles we might just have to hire a bodyguard for her. He said that no man is allowed to come near her until after he's dead so the bodyguard wouldn't be necessary.
She's truly beautiful and deserves a beautiful name to match. After hours of going back and forth through the baby name books, we had each decided to write down three names for a girl and three names for a boy and list them in the order of our favorite. My husband and I think just alike as we both had the same name written down at the top of our list. Avery. Avery Hester to be more specific.
Avery is such a wonderful baby. Everyone thought she would be fussy just like her daddy, but surprisingly she's very laid back and quite a happy little girl. The one thing that bothers Niles however is the fact that he doesn't get to feed her as much as I do. I'm breastfeeding, he can't exactly do it but he has figured out a way to take part in it. Either on the couch or our bed, usually our bed, I'll sit between his legs and relax against his chest. He holds us so gently and so lovingly. He talks to her in a voice that neither of us knew he had. It's so soothing that it's even put me to sleep.
For a man who used to cringe at the word fatherhood, he is certainly doing a wonderful job with it. You have to pry Avery out of his arms. He won't let anyone hold her without his supervision. Anyone but me that is. Avery doesn't like the unfamiliar though, five minutes is the longest anyone has gotten to hold her before she starts fussing. The minute she's back in our arms, she calms down and falls right back asleep. Niles and I have "the magic touch" as Martin calls it. And in all the time we've been home from the hospital, I don't think Avery has spent even half the amount of time in the antique crib Niles just had to have as she does in our arms.
I love the time I get to spend with our daughter while her daddy is at work, even though I miss him terribly. Most of the time I talk to her about Niles. I tell her all of the funny stories I know about him. I would rather her be in my arms than in her crib and lying on the couch reading a book with her asleep on my chest is something I love to do. I love watching her sleep. She's so peaceful. Motherhood is a very scary thing, but Avery makes it so easy for me and I love her so much.
It's funny, it used to be that Martin would cop out on his exercises, but since I married Niles and had our baby, I'm the one that does it. He completely understands and sometimes pops over just to have lunch with me. I think it's really an excuse to see Avery. He knows I'll at least give him the opportunity to hold her, unlike her daddy. "I don't think so Dad. She's been a bit cranky today," or "Maybe later," are the excuses he uses to keep her in his arms. It takes a lot of coaxing from me before he'll let someone else hold her. She really recognizes Niles and my touch and when she's in someone else's arms, she knows instantly. Which makes the time with her grandfather short lived. Martin doesn't seem to mind, he's just glad that he's around to be a part of her life.
I love coming home from a day out with Roz or an afternoon with Martin and knowing that Niles and Avery are there waiting for me. I don't do this that often because lord knows I would rather be at home but Niles makes me get out every once in a while. I'll come home and Niles will be making dinner or I'll find him doing paperwork on our bed while Avery naps across the room. So much for that office he added to the floor plans on the house. I love walking in the door and into his arms. There is always a void whenever I go anywhere without him and I hate that feeling. It's so bad that even if he tells me to get out for a bit, that I spend three-fourths of the time on the phone with him. Poor Roz, I think she's beginning to get annoyed with it all. We'll just have to find her someone to love. Maybe we can throw another party.
I thought my world was complete that night when Niles and I declared our love for one another, the night we made love for the first time. But having Avery in our lives makes it all even better. Niles completes my life, I complete his and Avery completes ours. I wake up each morning in the arms of the man I love; I can hear our daughter stirring from across the room. This is my family, the one I have waited so long for.
We live in the wettest city in the country, but I see nothing but sunshine each and everyday. I took a huge gamble moving to the States, I had no idea that each and every one of my dreams would come true here. And the person who made them all come true was the odd little psychiatrist who fell in love with me.
Daphne's Epilogue
Several weeks after we were married, we discovered that something else happened that night. It was very unexpected because we had hoped it would just be the two of us for a while. It had taken so long for us to get here that we wanted to spend as much time together as possible. We were working so hard on building the new house and we were so anxious to move in. This was a two-person job, but it turned out that three people were doing it.
Having said all that, I was very nervous to tell Niles of my suspicions. When I told him I thought I might be pregnant, all of my fears disappeared as he started to cry. "Really?" he asked sinking to his knees and putting his hands on my stomach. I merely nodded and that's when he looked into my eyes. "Honey, it's okay. I know we said that we were going to hold off on having children for a little while but this is fantastic. I mean we're actually going to get to see what we created that night. It doesn't have words but now it has a form. A baby is a symbol of our union."
He was so wonderful. He's the one who took me to the drugstore to get a home pregnancy test, he's the one who made the phone call to the doctors to make an appointment for an official test, he's the one who calmed me down when I had a crying fit. He did everything but take the test. I made him look at the test when the alarm sounded. I was so nervous because I wanted to have his baby so much. And to see his eyes light up when he picked up the test was the most incredible thing. I don't think I could have looked at it, seeing his elation was all I needed. And needless to say, the house preparations went into full swing the very next day. The doctor later told us just how far along I was. Niles and I did, indeed, create our little one that night.
Niles was so supportive throughout our pregnancy. Yes, our pregnancy. I was so worried that it would be a difficult one but it wasn't. It was so beautiful. I loved every minute of carrying our baby and the sooner the time came to have it, the more I couldn't wait to have another.
Niles never missed one of my doctor's appointments, he called me every hour on the hour from his office just to tell me he loved me and to add another name to the "what to name the baby" list. I thought for sure that at some point he'd pass out during the pregnancy, especially when we had to watch that film in Lamaze class. I really underestimated my husband though, he was the only man in the room that didn't have to get up and leave. He even chuckled when a colleague of his left the room.
My husband hired miracle contractors to design and build the house. They were doing a wonderful job, under budget and ahead of schedule. Niles demanded to over see everything, especially our bedroom and the nursery. He insisted on designing them himself. He placed our bedroom in the center of the second floor, with these beautiful bay windows overlooking the ocean and the spot where we were married. And seeing as we were going to wait to find out the sex of the baby, he did this whole unisex baby animal theme. I had to stop him from buying two cribs though.
He insisted that the baby should sleep in our room for at least the first couple of months. I had absolutely no objections to that but questioned the need for two cribs. It turns out he was thinking ahead of another baby as well and wanted to be prepared in case we had two children in need of cribs. "You never know." He said. In the terms of our relationship, you never know was the perfect thing to say. The house was finished just as I entered the final month of our pregnancy and thankfully we were able to settle in before our little one was born.
Nothing even came close to the look on his face when the doctor said, "it's a girl." It was Niles' turn to break down in tears. He later teased that it out of relief for the hand that I nearly broke, we both knew better. When the baby was placed on my stomach just seconds after her entrance into our world, god it was a dream come true. She's the baby I have always wanted and her father is the man I used to spend so many nights dreaming of. Everyone else in the room disappeared as the three of us cried together. He was right, our daughter was the love that we created that night. Holding her in our arms is the most incredible feeling.
Once everyone had cleared out of the room, we took to the task of naming our little one. She calmed down almost immediately when we were left alone. Already like her daddy, the hustle and bustle is not at all to her liking. And she has the same piercing blue eyes as he does with my dark hair. But those eyes. Those eyes are going to get us in so much trouble. They're beautiful just like her daddy's. They're the color of the sea and no man is going to be able to resist them. I told Niles we might just have to hire a bodyguard for her. He said that no man is allowed to come near her until after he's dead so the bodyguard wouldn't be necessary.
She's truly beautiful and deserves a beautiful name to match. After hours of going back and forth through the baby name books, we had each decided to write down three names for a girl and three names for a boy and list them in the order of our favorite. My husband and I think just alike as we both had the same name written down at the top of our list. Avery. Avery Hester to be more specific.
Avery is such a wonderful baby. Everyone thought she would be fussy just like her daddy, but surprisingly she's very laid back and quite a happy little girl. The one thing that bothers Niles however is the fact that he doesn't get to feed her as much as I do. I'm breastfeeding, he can't exactly do it but he has figured out a way to take part in it. Either on the couch or our bed, usually our bed, I'll sit between his legs and relax against his chest. He holds us so gently and so lovingly. He talks to her in a voice that neither of us knew he had. It's so soothing that it's even put me to sleep.
For a man who used to cringe at the word fatherhood, he is certainly doing a wonderful job with it. You have to pry Avery out of his arms. He won't let anyone hold her without his supervision. Anyone but me that is. Avery doesn't like the unfamiliar though, five minutes is the longest anyone has gotten to hold her before she starts fussing. The minute she's back in our arms, she calms down and falls right back asleep. Niles and I have "the magic touch" as Martin calls it. And in all the time we've been home from the hospital, I don't think Avery has spent even half the amount of time in the antique crib Niles just had to have as she does in our arms.
I love the time I get to spend with our daughter while her daddy is at work, even though I miss him terribly. Most of the time I talk to her about Niles. I tell her all of the funny stories I know about him. I would rather her be in my arms than in her crib and lying on the couch reading a book with her asleep on my chest is something I love to do. I love watching her sleep. She's so peaceful. Motherhood is a very scary thing, but Avery makes it so easy for me and I love her so much.
It's funny, it used to be that Martin would cop out on his exercises, but since I married Niles and had our baby, I'm the one that does it. He completely understands and sometimes pops over just to have lunch with me. I think it's really an excuse to see Avery. He knows I'll at least give him the opportunity to hold her, unlike her daddy. "I don't think so Dad. She's been a bit cranky today," or "Maybe later," are the excuses he uses to keep her in his arms. It takes a lot of coaxing from me before he'll let someone else hold her. She really recognizes Niles and my touch and when she's in someone else's arms, she knows instantly. Which makes the time with her grandfather short lived. Martin doesn't seem to mind, he's just glad that he's around to be a part of her life.
I love coming home from a day out with Roz or an afternoon with Martin and knowing that Niles and Avery are there waiting for me. I don't do this that often because lord knows I would rather be at home but Niles makes me get out every once in a while. I'll come home and Niles will be making dinner or I'll find him doing paperwork on our bed while Avery naps across the room. So much for that office he added to the floor plans on the house. I love walking in the door and into his arms. There is always a void whenever I go anywhere without him and I hate that feeling. It's so bad that even if he tells me to get out for a bit, that I spend three-fourths of the time on the phone with him. Poor Roz, I think she's beginning to get annoyed with it all. We'll just have to find her someone to love. Maybe we can throw another party.
I thought my world was complete that night when Niles and I declared our love for one another, the night we made love for the first time. But having Avery in our lives makes it all even better. Niles completes my life, I complete his and Avery completes ours. I wake up each morning in the arms of the man I love; I can hear our daughter stirring from across the room. This is my family, the one I have waited so long for.
We live in the wettest city in the country, but I see nothing but sunshine each and everyday. I took a huge gamble moving to the States, I had no idea that each and every one of my dreams would come true here. And the person who made them all come true was the odd little psychiatrist who fell in love with me.